After Jack
by Pink Pandoracorn
Summary: Formerly "Maya's Story." Starts with the death of the Warrior and continues from Maya's POV, also Gaige's POV. Starts off shippy but it's not all romance. Changed the rating to M for language and suggestive content, so... M for language and "suggestiveness?"
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: None of this is mine. Way to go, Gearbox!**

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_**Maya**_

"Slow down, man- I nearly bought it back there. Hey- Lilith!" Mordecai and Brick were shuffling towards us. I wasn't sure who was supporting who. They looked pretty rough. But they were alive. "Thank fuck," I murmured to myself. I couldn't lose anymore friends.

"Where were you guys five minutes ago?! If it weren't for these guys, we'd all be dead!" Lilith chided them. I could tell she was happy- relieved?- to see them.

"I think that's her way of saying we won." The two came to a stop in front of us.

"I figured that," Mordecai replied, waving Brick off.

I had to smile. We were all alive. We'd done it. We were alive and Jack was dead. Except for Roland... I felt a pang of sadness. I hadn't known him as long as Brick, Lilith, and Mordecai, but I knew he'd be proud of us. And Bloodwing...

But this wasn't a time for sadness. This was a time for celebrating. Lilith was free. The Warrior was dead. Jack was DEAD.

Brick motioned Axton over to him. "Come here, Slab." He transferred Mordecai's weight to the smaller man, and his eyes closed on me. Something dark was in his eyes and I backed up a step or two before one of the rocks littering the floor hit my back.

He walked- limped- toward me, and I pressed my hands against the rock behind me. I had nowhere to go. "Come here, girl," he said, and grasped me with one hand on each side of my waist, lifting me up until I was sitting on the rock I'd backed into.

Even with me sitting on the rock, he towered over me. I peered up into his face, but I didn't have long to wonder what he was going to do before he bent down and his lips met mine.

The kiss was vicious, savage, triumphant. I found myself snaking my arms around his neck and wrapping my legs around his waist. He pressed me back, just a little, and when our tongues met I felt a hot jolt deep in my belly.

Time stood still and everything else faded around us. It wasn't until he righted me and straightened, pulling away from me, that I noticed Gaige was yelling at us to get a room.

Lilith said something else, and then a large star map appeared in the air above her, but I found it really hard to focus. Truthfully, I found it hard to breathe. I sat on the rock dumbly, staring at my Maliwan SMG without really seeing it.

"Amiga, join in the looting!" Salvador shouted. I looked up and Brick, Lilith, and Mordecai were gone. The rest of my companions were picking through the loot that had exploded from the Warrior's body.

I shook my head to clear it and slid down off the rock. I looked at all the pretty guns, but my mind just wasn't on them.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Maya**_

I picked up my cocoa and crossed to where Lilith was sitting at the table, waiting for me. We were having some unofficial Girl Time. Gaige had politely declined- the announcement, "Sca-rew this, I'd rather tinker with my bot," had come up- so it was just the two of us.

The past couple of weeks had been quiet. There was a huge celebration for us when we got back, of course, and then Roland's funeral- Bloodwing's too- and now... Now we were settling in again. Losing Jack had been a huge blow to Hyperion and they were keeping to themselves. The bandits were afraid, I think. Not just one siren, but two... They didn't want to tangle with us.

I sat down heavily. "Is it always like this?"

She peered at me with her yellow eyes. "What?"

I sighed. "All the guys tend to forget you're, you know, a woman?" Pain flickered in her eyes for a moment, and I shook my head. "Shit, Lil, I'm sorry."

"It is. Just like that, I mean." She shrugged. "It was murder trying to get Roland to see me as a woman instead of 'the siren,' or just another one of the guys. And then he did..."

"Sorry, Lil," I repeated. I covered her hand that was sitting on the table with one of mine and pressed it in sympathy. She squeezed my fingers gratefully. Losing Roland had been really hard on her. She barely had time to think about it, now that she was head of the Crimson Raiders... and I had to bring it up again.

She smiled, although the expression didn't reach her eyes. "It's fine. It's tough being a woman." The tentative smile turned into a wicked grin. "I thought you and Brick..." her tone was teasing.

I pulled my hand back and cradled my mug in both hands, staring intently into the hot brown liquid so I didn't have to meet her eyes. "Not even close. He's barely even talked to me since... since. And when he does, he's all, 'Slab-this,' and 'Slab-that.' I guess it was just a celebration thing."

It was her turn to wince. "Damn, Maya, I'm sorry. It's tough," she repeated. "What about Axton? He's never hit on ya?"

I choked on my cocoa. "Yeah," I said when I could breathe again. He had, but, well, he hit on everyone. "He _is_ pretty. I do _not_ have time for his ego."

A throat cleared. I closed my eyes, wishing my phaselock worked on myself. I could just float out the window. Mordecai had the worst possible timing. I hoped he hadn't heard any of that. All of that.

"I hope I'm not interrupting," he said, and I opened my eyes to see him easily lower his lanky body into a chair and lean back, one foot crossed over the other knee, hands clasped loosely behind his head.

"Just me whining," I replied quickly. "I'm thinking of hitting up the Info Stockade again. See if I can find more information on sirens."

Lilith nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, the info we have... Well, it sucks. I'm sure Jack wrote down all kinds of things. He was real big on recording everything that came out of his mouth." She looked at me closely, concerned. "You're not going alone are you?"

I shook my head. "No. Zer0 and Krieg are coming with me." I took a swallow of my cocoa. "That's another reason I want to go. I want to see if they have anything on Krieg. There's more to him than just..."

At that moment, we heard him yelling from outside about the 'poop train.' I gestured. "That." I rested my cup on the table. "I figure I'll get Zer0 up on the roof with his sniper rifle and Krieg can run around inside and make sure no one gets in."

Lilith nodded at my plan. Mordecai stayed silent. Someone else had something to say, though. "If you're making a barricade, you need a Brick," I heard the rich, booming voice say. He laughed at his own pun and I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment. "Can't have my favorite slab going off so close to Hyperion on her own."

I opened my eyes again to meet Lilith's and raised an eyebrow. This. This is exactly what I was talking about. She stifled a smile in her own cup, but I could see the corners of her lips turn up. After she took a drink and swallowed, she shook her head a little. "Yeah, Maya. It's tough.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Maya**_

It was hot in what had formerly been New Haven. I always felt a pang going through the rubble of the old town. I knew that was where they had started- Brick, Mordecai, Lilith and Roland- and where they had lived until Jack came along and fucked everything up.

Jack. He'd called himself "Handsome Jack," but even in my head, I just couldn't. The handsome part had just been a mask that hid all of the ugliness inside... And he'd eventually shown everyone- _everyone_- that ugliness. His own daughter had wanted to die rather than to continue to be another pawn in his twisted game.

We reached the large freight elevator and I turned it on. It whirred as it took us up to the elevated road that led to the Info Stockade. The last time we'd come this way, there had been constructors and loaders- including a particularly large loader by the name of Saturn- and all sorts of things waiting to kill us. I remembered that fight. My phaselock hadn't been able to do much, but Krieg and Zer0 had devastated it at close range.

This time, however, the way there was was practically deserted. There were two engineers, quickly dispatched by Krieg's buzz-axe.

We walked up the few flights of stairs to where the access terminal was and I knelt in front of it. "Slab, watch the door!" Brick ordered Krieg, and I heard Krieg go back down the way we came.

Zero pulled himself onto the ladder leading up to the roof. "I'll watch from above/kill anyone who gets close/do not take too long." He disappeared above us.

I plugged my ECHO into the computer terminal and started scanning for information. There was a lot about sirens, and I saw Angel's name come up a number of times. I transferred it all to my ECHO. Growing up with monks had left me with a love of research, and I was eager to find out more about who- what- I was.

I searched for Krieg's name and was a little surprised to see he had a file. I added that to the transfer to my ECHO.

I glanced behind me. Brick was lounged against the partition separating the computer terminal from the rest of the room. He was watching me intently, arms folded. I was suddenly very aware of exactly how my pants spread tight over my ass as I crouched there...

He was... Well, he was Brick. He was a mountain of a man, his dark clothes had to have been specially tailored to fit him. His hammer was swung up on his back and he looked ready for a fight. He always looked ready for a fight.

And yet there was a... gentleness wasn't the right word. There had been nothing gentle or soft about the way he'd kissed me. Tenderness, maybe? I shook my head like I was shaking away the thoughts.

"Sorry," I said with a shrug when I realized I'd been staring, just as much as he had. "I warned you this was going to be boring." I had, right before we left Sanctuary.

"It's not so bad. And I'm sure Hyperion is gonna show up with things for me to punch." He grinned at the idea. "They lost Angel. They lost Lilith. I bet they're just itchin' to get their hands on another siren." I saw his biceps flex. "And it's _not_ gonna be you," he finished fiercely.

"Transfer complete," the Hyperion computer voice said, letting me know the files were done. I turned back to the terminal.

"Hyperion comes/they have some badass loaders/we need to move on," came the warning from above.

"Yeah," I called to him to confirm I'd heard. I had one more thing to search for... Aha. Found it. I copied it onto my ECHO and pulled it away from the machine. "Done!" I called.

Brick had gone back to watching me silently. When I started moving, he jumped down the topmost flight of stairs, landing with a heavy thud that shook the building, then ran the rest of the way down to join Krieg in what was becoming a battle at the door.

I followed, though I took the stairs instead of jumping over them. When I got to the bottom, I reached out my left arm and a badass loader floated up in the air, suspended in my bubble of elemental pain. The rest flew towards it and shared the slag and electricity. I fired at it, and the corrosive bullets absolutely tore the loaders apart.

I could hear the distinctive sound of Zer0's sniper rifle and loaders fell as he hit their critical points.

Between the four of us, it wasn't long before they were all dispatched. It had been almost a half-hearted attack, as if Hyperion knew they were obligated to, and knew as well that they didn't really stand a chance.

It was time to go home.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Maya_**

I barely even finished reading the file before I grabbed my ECHO off the table and took off towards Moxxi's bar. He needed to see this.

I pushed my way past the people hanging out at the door and scanned the bar for the familiar lanky man. He was sitting in his usual booth, half a dozen bottles in front of him. Every so often he would look up at Moxxi and mutter to himself.

For her part, she was ignoring him. She could have tossed him out on his ear, but I think she felt bad for him. He really had nowhere else to go.

I crossed to him. "Mordecai, I found something."

"I'd say you found... me," he slurred at me, saluting me with his bottle.

I shook my head impatiently and slid into the booth across from him. "No, I'm serious. You need to see this."

He roughly pushed my ECHO away as I put it on the table in front of him, in between his bottles. "I ain't lookin' at nothin'. Can't hardly see nothin' in here anyway because THE LIGHT IS SO BAD," he called the last part in the general direction of the bar. I could almost see Moxxi rolling her eyes behind me.

I sighed in exasperation. "No, Mordecai, it's Bloodwing."

He stopped. Stopped talking, stopped drinking, stopped glaring at Moxxi. "What?" he breathed. I had his full attention.

I showed him the information on my ECHO. "Bloodwing, Mordecai."

He looked at it and the color drained from his face. He stood and left, tossing some money on the bar as he went, all thoughts of drinking himself into a stupor again apparently gone.

"Thanks, sugar," I heard Moxxi call from the bar. "Some days he's just so hard... to take." With the right inflection, she turned the statement into an innuendo, of course, but I could tell that she was glad he was gone.

I picked up my ECHO and went over to her. "Did you hear?" I asked, settling onto a high stool.

"Thought I heard you say Bloodwing." She leaned forward on the bar to talk to me. It was the middle of the afternoon and there was really no one else in there, not including the crowd standing around in front of the door. "I'd be real grateful if it was true. All he does now is sit in here and drink and yell at me. I feel bad for the poor kid. He's lost... Well, everything, sugar."

He'd lost Moxxi herself- to Jack- over Bloodwing, but I didn't think now was the time to be pointing that out.

"_If_ she's still there, he'll have something again very soon."


	5. Chapter 5

_**Maya**_

Lilith looked up from where she was staring down at her map and frowned. "You found something."

I nodded. "There's a lot of stuff here about him, but it's very technical and science-y. From what I'm gathering, though, Krieg's name used to be Kevin."

"Kevin?" she repeated. "He doesn't look like a Kevin."

I nodded again. "I'm going to need help with the rest of it, but I'm pretty sure Tannis isn't doing anything that she can't be distracted from."

Lilith's frown grew. "Tannis? Are you sure she's going to help you out?"

I shrugged. "I think she'll find the subject matter pretty compelling. Or I'll bribe her with some blood samples."

Lilith's frown turned into a grin. "Even better if you can get her some more eridium to play with."

I took the ECHO down to Dr. Tannis. She was bent over her own ECHO, talking about the distinct lack of adequate filtration for her ceiling chair. "Excuse me, Patricia."

She looked up at me. "Yes? What is it?" She had the air of barely tolerating my so-rude interruption. That was just her way. At least she actually spoke to me instead of screaming and drooling until I went away. I'd seen other people try and interact with her... It wasn't pretty.

I handed her my ECHO. "Just look at this."

She started scanning it and her eyes lit up like I'd just handed over a large chunk of chocolate. She even licked her lips. "Where did you get this?"

"Info Stockade." I leaned against one of her workbenches. "Can you do something with it? Maybe help him?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed happily. "To delve into the depths of another's madness..." She looked up at me. "I must copy this!"

At my nod, she transferred the file from my ECHO to her own. She was almost giddy.

I retrieved my ECHO and she'd already dismissed me in her mind, eagerly reading the file I'd found on Krieg.

Most of what had been done was psychological torture, from what I gathered. Some physical, of course, but it was like they'd wanted to break down his mind while building up his body. And, of course, there'd been slag involved. There'd been notes from Jack- Lilith was right about him wanting to record every thought that came out of his head- that he was potentially making 'elimination forces', which I figured meant Krieg and others like him were going to be sent around to indiscriminately kill everyone who didn't live in Opportunity.

The file ended with the phrase, "Experiment terminated." The experiment had ended, but obviously Krieg hadn't been killed. So how had he come to the train station where I found him? Maybe if Tannis was able to dig his inner calm out of the raging psycho that we all usually saw, maybe we could find out.

There _was_ more to him. Every so often you could hear a calm voice, softer than his normal voice, talking about how he deserved this. Telling people to run. I was convinced it had been that part of him that got him to tell me about the rats.

I climbed the stairs again and saw Lilith, absorbed in her map-reading, so I settled down for more research. Sirens.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: This chapter was really hard to write. I kept going back and re-editing it and I'm still kinda on the fence about it.  
ALSO: Next chapter will be from Gaige's POV, so I'm going back and adding names for whose voice each chapter is in.**

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_**Maya**_

"Slab!" Brick greeted me enthusiastically as I digitally reconstructed. "Good to see you!"

I eyed him for a minute before returning a smile. So I was still, _Slab_. Behind him I could see Axton, Salvador, Gaige, Zer0, and Krieg, waiting with various degrees of patience and boredom on their faces. "Hi, Brick." I was probably imagining things, but it seemed like his eyes were lingering on the bare part of my hip. I cleared my throat. "Where are we going?"

We headed up the mountain. We'd been up there before. That trip had ended with Roland dying and Lilith getting captured by Jack. I gripped my SMG just a little tighter. It wasn't going to end like that again.

My bullets tore into the joints of a loader's arm until it shredded off and I lifted it into a phaselock before holding the trigger until it exploded in a mess of metal. I could hear Krieg screaming, "OPEN YOUR VEINS!" as he happily bashed loaders apart with his buzz-axe.

"Turret out!" I heard from somewhere ahead of me, as Axton threw his turret deck to cling to a nearby wall.

Sal was humming loudly as he unloaded both guns, and I could hear DeathTrap somewhere.

We were efficiently decimating the waves of loaders sent at us, until I heard the settling of the larger, yellow super badass loaders. "Badass!" I called.

More than one. Shit. I lifted one into a phaselock, and the softly glowing bubble of purple-blue pulled the others toward it.

Brick ran up beside me, panting a little from exertion. "We've got to get to the top, Slab," he told me, clapping a hand against my back. I nodded, emptying my clip into the floating super badass and reloading as it settled back down on the ground.

They were all trained at me, and I dived behind a concrete divider as they simultaneously began unloading their deadly fire missiles at me.

"Ghosting," I heard Zero's steady voice, and then the unmistakable mechanical protestations as a loader was killed. One down, two more.

I poked my head around my concrete divider and lifted a second one in the air, taking grim satisfaction as it showered slag and sparks onto its companion. "Shut up!"

"DIEDIEDIE!" Krieg screamed, charging in to meet both of them.

"Anarchy!" Gaige called from somewhere to my left, and I knew she was lost to her killing frenzy.

We made short work of them, and then there were no more. "There's a big-ass mortar, up at the top," Brick shouted and surged on up the mountain. I pulled myself up from my crouch and jogged after him. I heard the whine as my shield powered back up. Good.

Axton scooped up his turret and loped along beside me. "This is too easy," he called over the noise of our feet and weapons shifting around.

I nodded. It was too easy. Hyperion was pissed at Brick and if they were going to level a Slab-Town flattening assault, it would not be capped off by a few loaders, super badasses though they were.

We were almost at the plateau at the top of the mountain. A short trip through a cave and we could get up to dismantle the weapon.

I grabbed Gaige's arm and pulled her behind me. "Get cover!" I yelled as a barrage of rockets flew into the spot she'd been standing just seconds before. Some of the shrapnel bounced off my shield and I jumped back down the stairs, ducking under the overhang above.

Gaige crouched beside me, pulling out a grenade. She threw it around the corner and ducked back down beside me. "Homing," she said, and grinned as the explosions rocked us.

I couldn't see our friends, but they had to be there. I ran up the stairs and phaselocked the massive loader. It was too big to rise in the air, but it started taking damage. I fired a few shots before ducking back down the stairs, barely escaping the rockets.

"That thing is _not_ playing around," I said.

She activated DeathTrap and we watched the bot head up the stairs and around the corner. "Son of a whore!" she exclaimed and made a face. It had obliterated DeathTrap.

I heard gun fire, I heard grenades. I stuck my head up and shot at it some more. The ground under it was being showered by shrapnel as we tore into. It settled itself and aimed another rocket barrage at me and I didn't get back fast enough. It knocked out my shield and I took some shrapnel from the rocket to my left arm. I screamed.

"You ok?" Gaige yelled at me.

I nodded with a grimace. Without a proper phaselock, I wouldn't be able to siphon healing from it. My arm was a mess of blood and shrapnel and shredded skin, but at least it hadn't broken anything. I thought. Adrenaline kept me from feeling most of it, but it was still numb and useless. I pulled out my Torgue pistol and poked my head out to shoot some more. I ducked back in time this time.

I heard another scream of pain. Krieg. I wasn't sure if he'd been hit by the massive loader or if he'd been hitting himself again. I wanted to get to him to heal but I didn't know where he was... and I was probably useless for healing anyway, with my arm all mangled.

More shots. I couldn't lift my arm to phaselock, but I could still shoot it.

At last it squealed to death. The mountain shook with explosion. I swore, picking up my Maliwan from where I'd dropped it on the ground to hold it awkwardly in one hand.

"Is anyone hurt?" Axton called from above us.

"Yeah," I shouted back, but everyone else yelled they were fine. Gaige ran past me up the stairs, probably looking for the shell of her robot.

Axton rounded the corner and came to where I was sitting on the stairs and looked at my arm. His mouth set into a hard line. "You ok, sweetheart?" he asked.

I knew from the term that he was worried about me. I nodded. It was a lie, and we both knew it. My arm dangled limply beside me. Even with Anshin serum, it was to the point where I'd have new scars creasing my siren's tattoos. "Fine. We need to go destroy that mortar." I felt slightly detached from my arm. Shock.

He looked at my arm again and pulled me to my feet with the other one. "Just go slow," he advised. "Don't bounce around too much. We see any Anshin, you take it."

I nodded, teeth set against the pain that seared through me when I moved. Don't bounce it around, yeah. Done. I wished I could phaselock myself and float the rest of the way up the mountain.

Axton helped me ease up the stairs where everyone else was waiting. Brick frowned when he saw me. "Damn, Slab-" he started, reaching toward me.

I shook my head. "I'll be fine. We need to destroy that mortar."

"Sweetheart, you stay here," Axton suggested. "You can still shoot, right? You guard the entrance, make sure no one else comes up."

I nodded. That plan sounded fantastic. We both knew no one else would be coming up the mountain after us. I lowered myself gingerly to the ground, trying my level best not to jostle my arm. There was a crate just behind me and I leaned against it tiredly. Shock always made me sleepy.

"I will stay too, guard/for more Hyperion, make/sure you stay awake."

Everyone else began running for the hole in the side of the mountain. I watched them, willing my arm to stop hurting, stop bleeding. It didn't work.

Zero stood before me, impassive in his full-body armor. A frowny face showed on his helmet. "I will find healing./You need to stop the bleeding/before you pass out."

I nodded. That was a fine idea. In just a little while the adrenaline would fade and I'd really start regretting the choices I'd made for my life, unless my arm could be healed before then.

He ran down the way we had come. It was rare that loaders carried the Anshin serum on them, but sometimes an engineer would tuck something away on a 'bot for combat. We hadn't killed any people. Hyperion seemed to be running a little low on staff. Good, I thought viciously.

He appeared again beside me, holding out a glowing red needle. "Can you...?" I braced and he jammed it into my thigh. Doped up on adrenaline I barely felt it, and then the soothing rush of warmth from the serum spread through my veins. It wasn't enough to completely close my wounds, but at least my arm wasn't dripping anymore. As my arm partially knit itself together, it ejected bits of shrapnel.

Another explosion rocked the mountain, and I waited for our companions to come back down. They'd probably want to stay and drink themselves silly, but I needed more Anshin serum and some sleep. I didn't want to see Dr. Zed- ever- but there were a few vending machines around Sanctuary I could use.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Gaige**_

"Oh my GOD, Brick, SHUT UP already!" I snapped. I just couldn't take it anymore. He'd been on about her all night long and I was soooo over it.

Brick jerked back like he'd been smacked or something, and he looked a little hurt. "I just want to know she's ok," he told me, sounding just a little sheepish.

"So pick up your ECHO and call her, already." I pointed to it; he had it clipped to his belt. "It's right friggin' there."

He took a long drink instead. Come ON. I'd thought that was pretty badass advice.

"Waitaminute, waitaminute, wait. A. Minute." I said, setting my own bottle down heavily with a glass clank. I waved my hands around for emphasis. "Just a friggin' minute. Have you even talked to her at all since you straight-up mauled her in front of everyone?" He opened his mouth to answer me and I cut him right the fuck off. "And I don't mean, 'Hey Slab, sure is a nice day,' or anything like that, I mean..." He ducked his head down and it was pretty obvious was the answer was. "Are you shitting me right now!?"

I'd been drinking since we'd come down from the mountain and I was pretty drunk to be yelling at him like that. He could squish me like a bug.

"Darlin'," Axton started placatingly, placing his hand on my shoulder as though he was going to steer me away from my tirade.

I shook him off. Oh no. Someone needed to talk some sense into the giant ass. And he really was being an ass. "Listen up, 'cause I'm only going to tell you this just once," I said carefully as poked him square in the chest with one finger. "Although WHY I have to tell a grown-ass man this..." I straightened my hat and pulled myself up to my full height to lecture him. "She ain't gonna know that you want to play hide-the-sausage with her unless you open your big, stupid mouth and tell her." Across the room, Sal spit his mouthful of drink on the floor and he burst into loud laughter. A soft groan told me Axton couldn't believe I'd just said that.

"You've spent the last little while doin' your friggin' best to make sure she knows she's just one of the Slabs, and you sure as hell haven't offered to screw me." I looked around, gesturing to the guys. "Anyone else get an invitation for a ride on the Slab-King's throne?" I paused. "Anyone?"

Sal had fallen over, he was laughing so hard. Axton was looking at me like he couldn't believe the things that were coming out of my mouth.

"So, what? Just call her and tell her I want to see all of her tattoos?" he asked sincerely. Why the fuck was a man his age asking me for advice on his love life? Like, friggin'... Seriously?

I shrugged before picking up my bottle and having another drink. "Or tell her to show up and just start kissin' on her. Seemed to work pretty good last time."

Axton gripped my arm, hard enough that I couldn't shake him off this time. "I think you've had enough," he said, pulling me away from my conversation and taking my drink from me.

"Axton, he's gonna friggin' THANK me," I protested, reaching for my bottle.

He was taller- longer arms- and he held it easily out of my reach. "Time to go home, darlin'," he said. "_You'll_ thank me tomorrow." I thought I heard him mutter, "And so will he," but I wasn't sure.

I let Axton propel me down to the Fast-Travel station. "I don't know where my key is," I mumbled to him. The stars were starting to spin far above me.

"There's beds at Headquarters," he told me.

The Fast-Travel made me hurl. I may or may not have gotten some on his shoes. Ew. "Sorry," I apologized weakly. He pulled me towards HQ and picked me up to carry me up the stairs.

"Hey. Hey, Axton," I whispered loudly. I could see Maya fast asleep on one of the bunks and didn't want to wake her up. I could barely see his outline in the darkness. "You're so pretty."

"Get some sleep, darlin'," he told me.

Sleep? I didn't need sleep! I was the most powerful girl in the...


	8. Chapter 8

_**Maya**_

I rubbed my eyes tiredly. "You've been staring at that thing non-stop for a week now," I heard Mordecai's familiar voice say from behind me. I hadn't heard him come in, but I'd been pretty engrossed- and he moved really quietly.

I nodded. "I'm reading about sirens, Angel in particular. Everything I'm reading just makes me more and more glad Jack is dead." I'd come to Pandora to learn more about sirens, and it was getting a little frustrating that I hadn't found anything new yet. Most of what I'd seen so far from the Info Stockade had been Jack's accounts of his daughter. The rage I'd felt the first few days had smoldered into simple exhaustion with all of it. He was dead, I kept reminding myself. Thank all that was good in the world, he was dead.

"Want a break? I could use some company."

I turned and looked over my shoulder at him. He was lounged in the doorway, arms folded across his chest, and I could see the end of his sniper rifle over his shoulder. Truthfully, I was pretty desperate for a good excuse for a break... But. I'd promised Lilith I would stay put and hold down the fort while she went out and visited Roland's grave. She hadn't told me that's what she was going to do, but I knew.

I sighed. "I can't."

"That's too bad," he answered. "I'm going to hit the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve."

I grinned despite myself. "You're going to find her?"

"Yeah." Despite the simple answer, he looked almost excited. That was the happiest expression I'd ever seen on his face.

Gaige bounced in past Mordecai and stopped in the middle of the room. She looked between us and started to smile herself, although she couldn't have known why. "Whaaaaat's going on?" she asked, bright eyes flicking between the two of us.

I raised my eyebrow at Mordecai. It was his place to tell, if he chose.

"I'm headin' to the Preserve to see if there's an egg cloned from Bloodwing," he told her.

She squealed. "Holy shit!" she exploded. "That's badASS!"

"Do you want to come?" he asked drily.

"YES," she practically shouted. "Just let me get my guns and grenades and HOLY SHIT MORDY, BLOODWING!"

She rushed back out of the room and I watched the doorway in silence for a moment, slightly bemused. She moved around a lot like a tiny tornado- had I ever had that much energy?

"Good luck," I offered him, not just referring to Bloodwing. Gaige was... awfully enthusiastic sometimes.

He smiled. "Thanks," he said before turning and leaving himself.

I turned back to my ECHO and shook my head. I'd had enough of Jack. I turned it off and pushed it away.

I sighed. I was worried about Lilith. Today marked exactly one month since Roland had been killed. Lilith had gotten even less sleep than she usually did, I could tell by the dark smudges under her eyes. But she was so stubborn, I'd practically had to force her to take the day off. What else could I do for her? What else would she let me do for her?

I picked up my coffee cup. She wouldn't talk to anyone, not even me, and we were becoming close. Every time I tried, she would change the subject and bring up Crimson Raiders business, or ask me how my research was coming. Mordecai said she wasn't talking to him, and I assumed she wasn't talking to Brick... Maybe it was time for me to talk to him and see if he could get through to Lilith.

I hesitated and took a sip of my coffee. Cold. I put the mug back down. I knew Tannis would have more sitting in the coffee pot downstairs- she drank the stuff like water. I could get a refill after I ECHO'd Brick.

Still I hesitated. I was being silly, I told myself sternly and picked the ECHO back up. I called Brick. "Brick, are you there?"

"Slab!" he familiar bass voice greeted warmly and I closed my eyes for a moment.

"Have you talked to Lilith?"

"Yes..." Coy had never been a word I would have associated with Brick, but that was the only word I could come up with for his tone.

"About Roland, I mean?"

There was a moment of silence, and when he spoke again, his voice was back to normal. "No. She ok?"

"No. She's not. And she won't talk to me, she won't talk to Mordecai. She's not getting a lot of sleep, she's barely eating. Some of that is probably because she's off the eridium, but I'm worried, Brick."

After we'd come back from killing Jack, she hadn't touched the stuff. She said she'd been pumped full of enough of it to last her a lifetime.

"I'll try and talk to her. She's stubborn, though, always has been."

"Thanks, Brick." Silence. Seconds turned into an uncomfortable minute. "I'll talk to you later." I ended the call and picked up my mug. Still cold, I rediscovered after having a drink. I was being silly, I scolded myself again. Here we were, nearly a month after the one and only time he'd kissed me, and still even the sound of his voice made me do things like forget my coffee.

I shook my head, trying to clear it, and picked up my mug to head downstairs to refresh my drink.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Gaige**_

He was waiting for me at Pierce Station. I'd grabbed everything I needed before heading there myself, even though there probably wasn't going to be anyone at the Preserve. Not only had we gone through there and killed everyone once, but we'd gone back a second time and helped the animals get some sweet revenge on the remaining staff.

As soon as he saw me, he punched in the code for the Preserve, and in just a couple of seconds we were there.

He was walking beside me towards all the buildings. "You're not gonna go up to your hidey-hole and back me up?" I asked, pointing up to the cave he'd used the first time I'd been there.

"No, I want to be the one to find her."

I nodded. That made total sense. He pulled himself easily onto the roof and watched me through his sight as I all but skipped through the loading area. I was EXCITED! There were a couple of loaders clanking around, badly in need of some TLC. He killed one with a single bullet to its "eye," and I digistructed DT to take care of the other one.

We headed through the holding pens, and they looked like they'd been abandoned for a long time. He kept himself high above me and I kept my shotgun out just in case something popped out to eat my face, but nothing did.

When we entered the actual building, he was beside me again and he started walking a little faster. He seemed to know exactly where he was going and I was happy to just follow him through the place. I was SO excited. It had about broken my heart when Bloodwing had died, I was SUPER glad he might be able to get her back.

He came to a door and opened it. It was a laboratory of some sort, filled with computers, and a single cryo chamber, still on and humming. "Madre de dios," he breathed. "There she is."

I watched him open the cryo chamber and draw out a single large egg. He slipped it carefully into the heated container he'd brought with us and I realized I was grinning like an idiot. There may or may not have been tears.

He took off the green goggles he always wore and brushed at his own eyes for a moment before setting the container on the floor and looking at me. "Thank you."

I couldn't stop smiling. I ran over and wrapped my arms around him in just the BIGGEST hug. "I'm so happy for you, Mordy," I replied. I'd never seen him this happy in all the time I'd known him.

He hesitated for a second before hugging me back. It was a good hug.

Finally I stepped back. "What now?" I asked. "When does she hatch?"

He put his goggles back on and adjusted them into just the right place. "Should be early in the morning. I'm staying here- make sure she hatches ok and we bond properly."

"So... you want company?" It wasn't like I had anything else going on

He seemed a little surprised that I'd asked. "Sure," he said. "That'd be great."

He picked up the container and we went back out of the complex-thing and up to where he'd lived the last time we were there. His bed was still there and he shook out the blanket before sitting down on it, holding the container in his lap.

I went to sit beside him. I straight-up stole half the blanket. It was a little chilly.

I could feel him watching me. "I heard you yelled at Brick."

Wrinkling my nose, I nodded. "Yeah. I was a little drunk and he was being dumb. Did... Did he tell you?"

Mordy chuckled. "Yeah. I told him that he needed to make his move and he said you'd already yelled at him about it."

"And yet... Still no move."

"What about you?" Mordy asked. "Are you upset because the whole world's forgotten you're a girl?"

"Is that what she was going on about? Glad I booked out of there." She'd gotten more action than I'd seen in... I didn't want to think about, and I DEFINITELY didn't want to hear her bitch about it. I loved Maya, but... I had my limits. "Officially? No comment. Unofficially, I haven't been laid in, like, TWO. Years."

"Me neither."

Really? I turned and looked up at him. "Really?" I repeated, out loud this time. I had a hard time believing it. "Well, why friggin' not? You're pretty hot for an old guy."

He coughed. "Thanks a lot! I'm not that old."

I kept my opinion to myself. I deserved points for that.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: SEX.  
**

_**Maya**_

"Slab!" Brick's voice boomed from my ECHO and I picked it up.

"Yeah, Brick," I acknowledged, rubbing my eyes. I'd been reading about sirens- Angel- again and I was about ready for a break anyway.

"Come to Thousand Cuts, Slab."

I opened my mouth to ask why, but he'd closed the connection. I sighed and stretched. Gun? No gun? Always better to travel with a gun. I got my gear together and headed out to the Fast Travel station. Within seconds I was standing on the dirt of Thousand Cuts.

Slab-Town was conspicuously empty as I picked my way through the mounds of scrap and garbage to the big building Brick called home.

"Up here, Slab," he called down from where he was perched on his throne.

I sighed and headed up the stairs to him. I stopped a few feet away to look up at him. Seated there he was taller than I was. He was watching me intently, a familiar dark look in his eyes...

He motioned me closer. "Come here, girl," he instructed, crooking a finger at me. That's exactly what he'd said when he kissed me all that time ago. I felt the familiar jolt in my belly that always seemed to happen whenever I thought about him... "Closer."

I stopped right in front of his feet and quicker than you might think a man that large could move, he'd grabbed me and hauled me up into his lap.

I licked my lips nervously. I didn't know where this was going- oh, hell, yes I did. I'd seen that look in his eyes exactly one time before. And before I'd really realized what had happened, my guns and shield were gone... Somewhere.

I was looking into his face and he moved his head to mine, exactly as he'd done that one other time he'd kissed me. The kiss was less desperate, but his mouth was still rough, demanding.

His lips left mine and he shifted me in his lap until I was straddling his waist, my feet tucked under my legs. He bent his frame down and pressed me back against his arms and began trailing kisses down the side of my neck. I closed my eyes as a soft moan escaped me. One of his hands was supporting me between my shoulderblades, and I could feel his other arm in the small of my back, pressing me against him very intimately.

My hands moved up, as if on their own, over the scarred leather covering his chest. I wanted his vest off. My fingers found the zipper about the same time his lips closed over my earlobe and it took some concentration to close my fingers around the zipper and pull it down.

I was dimly aware of him standing up- he shifted the arm that was around my back under my ass to support me. I slid my hands around his body, under the vest. I leaned forward to flick my tongue against the hard muscles of his chest and I could feel his free hand at my back, pulling down the zipper to my bodysuit.

He settled me on top of the washing machine and pulled the front of my bodysuit down. My hands slid up over his shoulders and I pushed his vest completely off. Skin met skin as he moved to kiss me again. His large hands, rough with callouses, seemed to be everywhere. He lifted me up to skillfully remove the rest of my clothes and I pushed his pants down and drew him in against me...

Some time later, I was curled up on top of him, my ear over his chest. There wasn't enough room on his small bed for us to lay side by side, but this was just as good. Better, even. I was listening to the solid thump of his heart beating. "I should go back," I said softly.

His arms were clasped loosely around me, holding me close against him. "Don't go yet, Sl-girl."

I raised my head and looked questioningly into his face. He shrugged, shifting me a little. "Lil said I need to stop calling you Slab."

I nodded. "Good idea. I thought... Well, you called me the same thing as everyone else."

"That's what she said."

He fell silent and I rested my head on his broad chest again, idly tracing out the scars on his skin with my finger.

It wasn't long before I heard him snoring. I eased myself out from under his arms. That had been... I needed some Girl Time.


	11. Chapter 11

_**Gaige**_

Maya walked in carrying a cup of hot cocoa. It looked like the start of some female bonding or whatever, but from the look on her face, I wanted to stick around this time.

Lil was sitting with me and we'd just finished eating dinner. We watched Maya settle down in a third chair and she silently placed her money in my outstretched hand.

Maya looked between us. "What?" she asked. She'd noticed Lil handing me my winnings from our bet.

"Oh, nothing. Have a good afternoon?" I asked innocently as I stuffed the money into my metal lunchbox.

She hid her face behind her cup and I laughed. I KNEW it.

"I am TOTALLY jealous, you know. Not about Brick because, like, old. Do you know how long it's been since I've had a date?" I'd had one boyfriend, ever. We'd gone out a few times, and then stupid Marcy Holloway had straight stolen him from me with her magic vagina and vaults full of money. Well, I'd shown her. I'd (almost) single-handedly saved the entire universe from Hyperion and she'd been exploded.

"Any date, or are you after a specific date? I bet Scooter would even take a shower if you asked him to," Lil teased me, and I stuck my tongue out at her. I was NOT going to answer that question.

"Maybe if I hike up my skirt a little more and get all breathless and flirty," I said instead, thinking about the girls he usually ended up with. He seemed to go for that kind of thing and I was all bored and lonely.

Maya shook her head at me. I knew she knew who I was talking about. I was being a little obvious, and sirens didn't seem to miss much. "No, Gaige. If you want that date, you need to stand out from what he's used to. Make him remember you," she advised.

Make him remember me? How the hell was I supposed to do that? Well, he was going to meet me that evening to work on his turret, maybe I could make myself suitably unforgettable or whatever then.

"What do you want him for anyway?" She continued. "He's older than you, he's been married, he was in the military for 10 years and you... You never graduated high school. You're in very different places in life."

I sighed, thinking about the way his ass fit in his pants. "Yeah, but have you seen him with his shirt off?" It had been a LONG-ass time since I'd gotten any of what Maya was apparently getting all of. Too long.

Lilith smiled at the thought and Maya nodded, a knowing look on her face. See? HOT.

"Besides, who else is there? Scooter? Ew. No. Sal?" I wrinkled my nose. Sal was definitely out. "Zer0's a friggin' robot or something, Krieg is just crazy, you snagged Brick, and Mordy..." I trailed off. That was pretty much everyone. The rest of the Crimson Raiders, the ones we were training or whatever? Yeah. Also crazy. I didn't want someone whose idea of fun was banging on a fucking door ALL DAY LONG. "I thought we were talking about your conquest anyway," I said, slouching down in my chair. "What made him finally put the moves on you? Or did you make a move on him?"

"Finally?" she asked with a slight frown.

"Giiirl, he's been going on about you since we killed the Warrior and he kissed you like he was going to screw you right there in front of everyone. That night that we went up the mountain and your arm got all torn up, you were all he could talk about. All. Night. LONG."

She raised her eyebrow at me and looked at Lil, who nodded in agreement. "I had no idea," she murmured, almost like she was talking to herself.

"So, how was he?" Lil asked. "I mean..."

Did Lilith seriously just ask Maya how Brick was in bed? Seriously? Like, in front of me and everything?

It took Maya a minute to reply. "Do you really want to look at him and know how he likes to-"

"Ew!" I exclaimed, cutting her off. World of no.

"He's sweet," she said after a while. "Not gentle, really, but he's very... generous." I had to smile when I saw the expression on her face when she talked about him. She looked so happy she about fucking glowed.

Yeah, I was done. "I'm outta here. I'm glad you're happy, but soon you're gonna start talking about what he did with his hands and I can't be here for that." Lilith laughed as I got up to go down the stairs. I went outside to go find Axton.


	12. Chapter 12

_**Gaige**_

I woke up and someone was snoring. Someone else. Not me. I looked over and saw Axton's thick brown hair on the pillow beside me and I groaned softly. "FML," I whispered, slipping out of bed.

My head was KILLING me, but unfortunately I remembered everything that had happened yesterday. Every little detail. We'd started out fixing his turret. He'd taken off his shirt and after seeing shirtless Axton bending over all night and then going for a drink with him, I'd... gotten a little desperate.

My clothes were scattered down the hall to the door and I scurried down the hall as quietly as I could, getting dressed as I went. Bending over to get my clothes wasn't exactly fun times for my head, but if I didn't he'd find me there. World of no.

I let myself out of his tiny house and sat down heavily on the curb. I buried my face in my hands, elbows on my knees, like I was trying to hide from what had happened. Hiding sounded pretty awesome.

We'd been at Moxxi's and gotten drunk. Like, stupid drunk. And I'd gone up to him and said something really stupid like, "Hey soldier, wanna take me home?" all breathless and flirty, and he'd taken me home. And THEN some. It wasn't like I'd been a virgin, but I just wasn't experienced. And he was all groping and fumbling and it wasn't romantic. It wasn't even hot. It was just AWKWARD. Like, more than my first time, awkward.

"Gaige?" I heard him call from inside. I had to get moving. He could NOT find me there. I stood and smoothed down my skirt before booking it down the street to my own little house. I'd converted it to be mostly a workshop, with just the basics upstairs. I sat on one of my stools, hiding my face in my hands. I didn't want to see anyone.

There was a soft knock at my door. "Gaige?" I didn't move. I didn't even breathe. "I know you're in there, darlin'."

Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck. I moved just my fingers so I could peer through them at the door. I'd locked it, right?

After a minute or so I heard him move off, muttering to himself. I let out the air I'd been holding and ended with a raspberry. I could get off Pandora, right? God, this was so embarrassing. I'd have to see him and talk to him and work with him...

"World of no," I said out loud to no one, wincing at the sound. My voice was too loud. "Not gonna happen." I'd tell Lil that I just couldn't. But that would mean telling Lil, and she'd be all smirking and... "FML," I said again. Why had Maya been right? Why did she always have to be right? Maybe next time if we weren't drunk... "Nooooooooooo," I groaned. Next time? No. World of NO.

I made myself leave my workshop. If I didn't show up at HQ, someone would come looking for me and they couldn't find me hiding. Then I would have to tell why I was hiding... No. I could pretend nothing had happened, right?

As I walked up the steps into HQ, I shook my head and stopped. I still had time to get off this rock, right? I forced myself to walk inside and got a large cup of coffee before trudging upstairs and slumping in one of the chairs at the table.

They knew. They all knew. They couldn't know, I told myself. No one else had been there, just me and Axton and Moxxi... Moxxi wouldn't tell, right?

"You ok?" Maya asked after a while. They'd been talking, her and Lil and Sal, something about how Maya didn't want to stay at Slab-Town, but I hadn't really been following a word they were saying.

I felt my face get red and I choked on my coffee. "Yeah," I said, unconvincingly. "Hangover." I couldn't do this anymore. I stood. "I've got... stuff." I left.

I wasn't watching where I was going and I bumped smack into a chest. I knew that chest. My heart sank. There was nowhere for me to run, so instead I just stood there and looked at my feet. This day was going from terrible to shitty, and my headache was the LEAST of my worries.

"You left your hat at my place."

I snatched it from him and jammed it on my head without saying a thing.

"Look, darlin', I know what happened, but I don't really remember the details..."

I flushed again. He was the lucky one. "I've got stuff," I muttered and pushed past him, going to hide in my workshop.


	13. Chapter 13

_**Gaige**_

I was in Moxxi's again. I hadn't been there- or anywhere, really- since that horrible night with Axton, but I was bored as hell and desperate enough to leave my workshop to risk running into him. I sat at the bar and watched Moxxi tease tips out of customers. She'd probably never had a night as horrible as I had.

"Haven't seen you in a few days, sugar," Moxxi said during a lull in her business. "You been ok?" Moxxi was pretty awesome. She was one of the few people who never treated me like a kid- or still did, looking at YOU, Brick. Then again she'd been popping out her own kids when she was younger than I was. World of no. No babies for this girl.

She knew. I KNEW that no one else knew, but she sure as hell did. "Yeah. I've been..."

"Hiding, sugar?" she supplied helpfully. At my nod, she continued. "I've had my share of bad one-night-stands, and you just want to sink right into the ground."

I was a little shocked at her admission. She'd had bad nights like mine? But she seemed so... Knowledgeable.

"It's worse when they're drunk. They can't control themselves and they forget that we need to get off, too." She looked at me for a second before pulling a bottle out of her tits and handing it to me. "On the house, sugar. Don't let one bad night put you off."

"Thanks, Moxxi. You're the best." I took my beer, tipped her, and wandered back out. I needed something to do. The idea of sitting in the bar and waiting for Axton to find me wasn't exactly appealing.

Mordy. I could visit Mordy and baby Bloodwing- who, ADORABLE! I went to Pierce Station. Good timing. I heard Axton just as I punched in the code for the Preserve and I missed whatever the fuck he was trying to say to me.

Even from the Fast-Travel station, I could hear baby Bloodwing squeaking urgently for food. I followed the path up to the cave. "Hey Mordy," I called softly as I got closer.

He was sitting cross-legged on the ground, Bloodwing perched on one wrist, dropping bits of some kind of meat in her open mouth. Skag?

She was tiny and fluffy and made entirely of cute. I went and sat facing him and watched him finish feeding her. As soon as she was done eating, she just passed the fuck out, right where she was. I wished I could fall asleep that easily.

He eased her gently into a pouch he'd sewn onto his shirt and let her sleep there. "Gaige," he greeted softly. "What made you come out here?"

"I figured you might be lonely with no one else to talk to. Plus I'm kinda hiding." Why had I added that last part? He didn't need to know.

"Hiding?" he repeated. "Hiding from what?"

"Axton," I mumbled. Maybe I needed to stop drinking so I could keep my big mouth shut. I set my beer gently on the hard ground.

I glanced up and noticed he was looking at me, his face all filled with questions. What the hell, maybe talking about it would help. I looked back at my beer, studying it so I didn't have to see him watching me through his goggles. "We got drunk and... sex... And it was TERRIBLE."

Mordy sounded like he was choking. I looked up at him again and scowled. "You don't need to pretend not to laugh," I snapped.

He gave in to his laughter. "Sorry, amiga," he snorted after a bit.

"Boy, I'm sure glad I told you!" I exclaimed sarcastically. "That sure didn't make it any more awkward for me or anything. Thanks, Mordy!"

He reached out and patted my knee. "If it makes you feel any better, that's probably not going to be your last bad night."

That didn't make me feel any better. "Wow. You're just so AWESOME at making a girl feel better! That was bad-ASS." Emphasis on the ass.

"There will be good times too," he assured me. "And the point was that you'll get over this and move on."

"Yeah. I would. I am SO ready to move on. Except now he's stalking me." I exhaled noisily. "Apparently all I had to do to get his attention was run and hide. Sure wish I'd known that sooner!"

"You can stay here if you want," he offered unexpectedly. "But don't think it's any more exciting here than it is in Sanctuary."

I was... shocked, to put it mildly. "Why?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Being uncomfortable in your own home because of a failed relationship sucks."

Yeah, I guess he'd know about that.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Thank you to everyon_e _who keeps on reading, your silent numbers make me smile. And SUPER thank you to those of you who have left reviews, I love them almost as much as I love coffee. Which is a lot.  
**

* * *

_**Maya**_

It had been about 10 days since Tannis had taken Krieg to Tundra Express to see if she could help him. She'd said that no one was to distract her with our trivialities, so we'd been out of contact.

Needless to say, it was a little shocking to look up from my ECHO and see Krieg standing in the doorway. The difference was immediately noticeable. For one thing, Krieg was wearing a shirt. It looked like he was going to split it if he coughed- or even breathed deeply- but he was wearing one. For another, he was missing his mask. His face was a mess of scars, his right eye was completely scarred shut.

I wasn't sure what Tannis had done, but it looked like it had worked. Had it?

"Why is she staring at me?" he asked. His voice was deeper, softer. "I guess I look pretty different," he concluded in his deep, slightly gravelly voice.

I knew Lilith and Salvador were in the adjacent room where they could hear everything we said, but they stayed there. I was on my own for this one.

"Maybe I should come back some other time," he muttered and turned away.

"No, I'm sorry," I said quickly. "You're just so... different. It took me a minute." I gestured at another seat at the table. "Come and sit down with me."

Krieg walked over and sat awkwardly at the table. He was still wearing the same orange pants, still had his buzz-axe. There was a clarity in his remaining eye that I'd never seen before. "I wish she would say something," he said after a while.

The pieces came together in my brain. He had no inner voice. Everything he thought just came right out of his mouth. "Do you still want me to call you Krieg?" I asked, almost desperate to fill the silence.

He nodded. "Thank God," he said to himself. To me, he said, "Yes. I'm not... I'm not the man I used to be."

It was more than a little awkward. Neither of us really knew what to say. I had so many questions, but none of them were really the kind of thing you just blurted out. "What are you going to do now?" I asked him after a little while. "I'm sure you could stay here if you wanted."

He shook his head slowly. "I can't. I need to go and find my daughter. She got away that night, I know she's still out there."

"Do you have any idea where to start?" I asked, concerned. I didn't even know he had a daughter, there'd been no mention of her in the file I gave Tannis. More questions.

"Info Stockade. Figure... If they had all that stuff on me, maybe they have some stuff on her."

"Do you want someone to go with you?" I asked. "It could still be dangerous."

"No. They won't come after me, they'd be sorry if they did." I could hear the murder in his voice. I could definitely understand his hatred for Hyperion, especially if they'd taken him from his daughter...

"How did you get out? The file just said, 'Experiment Terminated.'"

"Oh, it was terminated, alright," he said to himself. To me, "I watched them fill my wife with slag until she died. I refused to kill the others they'd taken, even when the others tried to kill me. They brought me back again and again..." He trailed off for a moment and I closed my eyes to hide the horror I knew they would show. "They opened up my cage to kill me, too. It was pretty stupid of them to think that the animal they'd turned me into would just let them kill me. I killed them, killed them all." He was savagely proud and I heard a reflection of the crazy ranting I was used to in his voice. "I kept him- me- from killing innocents, but he was so bloodthirsty..."

I opened my eyes and saw he was looking at me, and the intensity in his eye made me shift uncomfortably. "Thank you, Maya. Thank you for trusting me. Thank you for..."

I picked his hand up off the table and pressed it between mine. I looked at our hands, I couldn't meet his gaze anymore.

"I should get going," he said after another moment and extracted his hand from between mine. "Patricia said to tell you that she's going to stay there." His mouth twisted up into a smile. "It's ok to visit, but absolutely no bacon." He stood and left.


	15. Chapter 15

_**Gaige**_

It was AWESOME. There was a whole big lab and stuff with computers for me to fuck with. I was in HEAVEN. We'd set a cot up for me in Mordy's cave 'cause he said it wasn't safe outside for me at night- why I had NO idea- but he was busy with baby Bloodwing a lot, so I had to find things for myself to do.

This was WAY better than Sanctuary. Too bad Hyperion were such fuckheads, 'cause they sure had a lot of fun toys to play with.

Like, DT got new armor. They'd found a way to duplicate the stalkers' ability to go invisible. I straight-up stole their info and applied it to my favorite 'bot. What up invisible DT! There had been some bugs in their programming, probably due to their being such giant assholes, but I'd easily worked it out. And that was just the BEGINNING of all the awesome shit there was.

I was fucking around with a computer and I flipped a switch and suddenly Lil's voice filled the room. "- and now he's gone off to find her, I guess. I don't think Maya had the heart to tell him that she was shackin' up with Brick."

I heard the hunter's familiar chuckle come over the ECHO. "Yeah, I heard Maya's movin' in with him."

Whaaaaat the fuuuuuck. He was serious as hell with me and here he was gossiping like HE was the teenaged girl. Seriously?

Lil sighed. "Yeah. Gonna be lonely in here again," and the hurt in her voice made me sit down hard. Lonely? Lil was lonely? I felt a little bad.

"What about Salvador and Axton?" Mordy asked, and I could hear baby Bloodwing in the background.

Baby Bloodwing was starting to hop around the cave and hunt for bugs and things. Mordy still fed her, less meat-directly-into-mouth and more, here-have-this-skag. She liked me, though, and she was sooooooo CUTE.

"Sal is screwing Moxxi," Lil said flatly.

I about fell out of my chair. Sal and... Moxxi? Holy shit, everyone was hooking up. Moxxi could have had anyone she wanted- probably not Mordy- and she'd gone for Sal? That was CRAZY.

"And Axton is sulking," the siren continued.

"Still?" Mordy asked, and there was a laugh in his voice. "You'd think he'd never been rejected before."

"Oh, he's real committed to sulking. So committed that he's made himself the new sheriff of Lynchwood. And to be fair, she didn't _exactly _reject him so much as she hid from him and then took off to the Preserve." They were talking about me. This was getting good. "How's that going by the way?"

"Good," Mordy said. And that's all he said. Seriously, Mordy? SERIOUSLY? Gossip about all the other things and then when it comes to me, what... Nothing?

"Just good?" Lil teased. See? I wasn't the only one who'd noticed.

"Yeah. She's a good kid. Bloodwing likes her." That's it? COME ON.

"You're not..." NOT WHAT, LIL? I was screaming inside my head. I didn't know if the computer had an output line activated somewhere and I didn't DARE make a sound. Yeah, how awkward would that be. 'Hey guys, sorry, I've just been eavesdropping on your whole conversation. Just keep talking about me.' World of no.

There was a silence that went on just long enough to be uncomfortable. "No," he said finally. "She called me old."

She let out a short bark of laughter. "You _are_ old, Mordy," she teased. "And the way I heard it, she also called you hot."

I had. I had done that, yeah.

Wait. She'd heard what I said? Is this all they fucking did, just sat around and gossiped? Why wasn't I in on any of this action?

"She's like my little sister, Lil. And..." he trailed off into silence that stretched on long enough that even I was getting uncomfortable, and it wasn't really my conversation. "You know there's someone else," he said finally, and there was something in his voice that made Lil quiet too.

"I know," she said after another long silence, almost a whisper. Had they... WHAT WAS GOING ON?

They made their goodbyes and I got up to flip that switch back off. I sat on a table to process everything I'd just heard. Was Mordy mooning on after Lil? And Lil... She had sounded miserable. Just miserable. It was probably time to head back to Sanctuary. I wrinkled my nose at the thought. It was so BORING there, but Lil sounded like she needed someone. And if Mordy wasn't going to do it, I guess it was up to me. He and I were going to have to have a talk about that.


	16. Chapter 16

_**Gaige**_

"What's 'querida' mean?" I asked Sal. I'd pestered Lil until she'd agreed to come out for a drink with me. When we'd gotten to Moxxi's, Sal was perched at the bar, staring all goggle-eyed at Moxxi. Ew.

"It means 'sweetheart,' sugar," Moxxi answered. Yeah, she was probably in a position to know.

"For a woman," Sal finished. "For a man- querido."

Lil was staring at me in a kinda uncomfortable way, but I ignored her. It was something Mordy had said about her just before I'd left, and I think he'd thought I couldn't hear him.

I took another drink. I was in a pretty good mood. It was kinda nice to be back in Sanctuary. Everything in my shop had been just the way I'd left it. Maya was gone and I missed her, but Sal looked so happy he was about to friggin' explode and I hadn't seen Axton. That was fine by me. I was SO over that whole thing, but apparently he was still sulking.

Why was I the most mature, sometimes?

My mood didn't even change when I saw Axton stroll through the door. He walked right up to me like he'd been looking for me. He probably had been looking for me, coincidence only stretched so far. I shot Lil a look and she batted her eyes at me innocently. Innocent, my ass. Two could play that game, and she was in for a WORLD of trouble. Or, like, Mordy.

I thought over what Moxxi had said the last time I'd been in there, right before I took off. If anyone knew what they were talking about, I was sure it was her.

"Hey, darlin'. Been a while."

It had been a while. I was ok with that, but apparently he had stuff to say about it. "Hi, Axton."

"Can we talk?"

I drained the rest of my bottle and set it on the bar with a little thud. "Yeah, 's fine." He was in for it, too. Apparently booze made me talky. I hadn't had a drink since I'd left Sanctuary. Mordy was off the hooch. Said he needed to be sober to take care of Bloodwing. But... There wasn't a whole lot else to do in Sanctuary, so I'd already had a couple.

I followed the commando out of the bar and we walked. There wasn't really anywhere on Sanctuary to go, so we ended up tucked in the back of a little alley near Marcus's. I slid to the ground and slouched there, and after a second he sat down next to me.

"I'm... Sorry," he said after a while.

"For what?" I asked, unthinking, and then regretted it. Less beer. I should have had less beer. I knew exactly what he was talking about. "OH!" I exclaimed, cutting off whatever he'd been about to say. "THAT. Yeah. That was pretty horrible. 'sok, though. I'm over it." I smiled at him to show I meant it. I couldn't read the expression on his face.

"You know, I've been thinking-"

"Don't hurt yourself!" I snapped before I could stop myself. I grinned again to show I was kidding. Mostly.

He smiled back, looking downright roguish. Damn he was hot. I'd had a few and it was so easy to picture him without his shirt. I thought some more about what Moxxi said. One of the FEW highlights of that night had been running my hands over all his pretty muscles... My eyes locked on his forearms. The man had some damn nice forearms.

"We should try again," he was saying, and I made myself focus on his words. "Properly, I mean. I bring you flowers, we go out for pizza, maybe not get quite so drunk this time..."

A date. He was asking me on a date. A date where he brought me flowers and took me out for dinner... Apparently my hiding-from-him-at-all-costs had made me unforgettable, and now he wanted a piece. Just like Maya had said.

I didn't answer right away. I thought about it, really thought about it. With the exception of that one shitty-ass night, it had still been waaaay too long since I'd gotten laid. And that didn't EVEN count. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't drunk. And he was still WAY hot.

I opened my mouth to answer him. "Sulking isn't hot," is what came out. And there it was. Booze made me talky.

From the look on his face, he'd been POSITIVE I was going to say yes. His eyes narrowed at my statement. "And hiding is?" he shot back.

"Well, apparent-friggin'-ly. You came aaaaall the way back here just to ask me out."

He didn't answer that. He got up and stalked off and I realized I hadn't answered him about the date. "Um, yes?" I called after him. Silence. FML. Well, THAT had gone well.


	17. Chapter 17

**_Gaige_**

"Why don't you just go see him?" Lil asked me. She was sitting and eating and I was fiddling with my prosthetic arm.

"What?" I asked, blushing. She knew. Oh, she knew.

"You're a million miles away, Gaige. And I appreciate the company, but you're not exactly _here_." Yeah. She knew.

"What about you?" She'd told me that she was having a hard time and she was glad I was there. "I can't just ditch you when you need someone..."

"I'll be fine. I'm always fine. _You_ need someone and he's not here. Just go to Lynchwood, screw your brains out, then come back here and we'll have hot cocoa. You'll feel better, he'll feel better..."

If only it was that easy. I was saved from answering when heard the door open and a familiar step on the stairs. I started to grin, half a second before Lil flew past me and launched herself at Mordy.

"Hey Lil- careful!" he protested.

I looked up to watch them hug. "Hi," I said, waving my prosthetic enthusiastically. I may or may not have had something to do with his showing up.

Bloodwing was perched on his shoulder. I held out my metal arm to her and she flew over and landed on it, looking at me with her head cocked. She'd finally grown out all her feathers. "Hey, she's flying!" I marveled.

"She's missed you," he said, and I stroked her feathers gently.

"Well. I think it's time I went for a bit. So... You two have fun!" Bloodwing flew up when I started to move and I booked it out of there. THIS is what happens when you mess with a devious mechromancer.

What could I do with myself? Moxxi would have her bar open, although it was a little early to start drinking...

I shook my head. Couldn't visit Mordy, seeing as he was... In Sanctuary. Maya and Brick? I wrinkled my nose. Ew. The last time I'd visited them, they'd still been in the all-over-each-other part of their new relationship. World of no.

I ended up in Pierce Station, sitting on one of the benches. After a while, Bloodwing came and sat on my metal arm, looking at me sharply out of one eye. We were still sitting there some time later when Mordy strolled in. He looked... Just the way he always did- tall, skinny, goggles. I smiled when I saw him. "Soooo..." I prompted.

He stopped in front of me, looking down. "So, what? It was good to see her again."

My smile dropped right off my face and I wrinkled my nose. I couldn't help it. "Sorry, Mordy. I thought you two were, you know... All lusty on each other."

He watched me for a second. "Why did you think that?"

Awkward! How DO you tell someone that you totally eavesdropped on a conversation they had? "You called her querida. You remember, the day I came back here?"

"I guess I am." His frankness kinda took me by surprise. "But we've known each other for a long time. I'm... not really her type."

"How is that EVEN possible?"

He shrugged. "You met Roland." That was a good point. Mordy was... nothing like Roland.

"Yeah."

He watched me for another couple of seconds. "What's wrong? I haven't seen you sit this still in a long time."

I let out all my air noisily, disturbing Bloodwing. She flew up in the air and resettled herself on Mordy's shoulder, giving me a dirty look. "I don't have a home, Mordy," I said quietly. "I have a house here, I've been living at the Preserve for a while, but I don't have a HOME." I wrinkled my nose again. "I don't have a family, I don't really have anything."

He lowered himself to the bench next to me and dropped his skinny arm around my shoulders, tucking me up against him. I leaned against his side and pulled my knees up against my chest to hug them. "I just realized today that it was my birthday a couple of days ago. And, like, I didn't even care. Last year, my dad took me out for dinner and we hung out and it was awesome. This year... I don't have a family like that." I trailed off for a minute. "It's just me and my 'bot and my guns. Totally awesome, not really family."

He didn't say anything, so I continued. "Brick and Maya have each other. They are ridiculously happy and friggin' nauseatingly adorable together. They're STILL all over each other, and not just in the I-want-to-sex-you-up way. And the same with Moxxi and Sal- when Sal talks about Moxxi, you know he's talking about home." I wrinkled my nose. I was doing a pretty shitty job explaining it. "You have Bloodwing, and I know she's more than just a pet, she's..." I trailed off. Explanation fail.

He stayed silent for a while, he just sat with his arm around my shoulders. I felt him gently kiss the top of my head. "You have me and Blood. You'll always have a home where we are," he told me quietly.

"Thank you." I meant it.


	18. Chapter 18

_**Maya**_

Tina was living with us. Kind of. She was living in the center of the cleared out Bunker, which she and Brick had turned into some sort of death ring for Slab initiation. "But only because you ladies need my help," she'd told him when she'd moved in. I was surprised that she'd actually agreed to it at all, and I was perfectly willing to let her have that one.

I felt better about her staying up there where it was safe. For all of her big talk and skill with explosives, she was still a 13-year-old girl. She'd used her explosives expertise to blow out the lower levels where Jack had kept Angel and she was completely secure up there.

She kept to herself a lot of the time, occasionally inviting us over for a tea party, or dropping in to watch shows on the ECHOnet with us. She and Brick would take off to go and raid bandits every now and again, her sitting on his shoulder and throwing dynamite all over the place.

Brick and Tina were off on one such bandit-raiding trip and I was sitting on my lover's throne and doing some more research on my ECHO when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone in the door. The Slabs didn't dare come in without express permission- they were a little afraid of me. I looked up and smiled when I saw who it was. "Krieg!" I put the ECHO down gently in the seat as I stood. I didn't bother with the stairs, just hopped off the loft and hurried over to him for a hug.

He pulled me into his arms for a brief moment, then released me. "It's good to see you again, Maya." And that was all he said. Apparently he'd regained his inner voice. He looked... Drained, like he could do with a good night's sleep.

"You too, Krieg." I hesitated. "Are you hungry? There's some skag stew in the fridge I can heat up." That was one of the things about living on Pandora- you got used to making everything with skag.

"Gaige told me Tina lived here," he said, looking around like he might catch sight of her.

"Sort of. She lives in the Bunker right now. She and Brick are off killing bandits together."

He looked back at me. "Hungry, yes, sorry. That sounds great."

I reheated both of us some of the leftover stew and he sat down with me to eat. I was _hungry_. I tended to get wrapped up in my research and forget to do things like eat at proper meal times.

"Slab-Town is really starting to look civilized," he said after swallowing a mouthful of stew.

I smiled. "Thank you. I've kept the Slabs busy. I am _not_ living among heaps of garbage."

We ate for a little longer in silence, then he put his spoon down in his bowl and turned his full attention to me. "My search led me here," he said quietly, running a hand over his bare scalp.

I put down my spoon as well and studied him for a moment. "The only girls here are myself and Tina and you're not old enough to be my father..." and I trailed off. I knew exactly what that meant.

He nodded, watching me carefully.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Are you sure?"

"Positive," he replied. "I... _made_ people talk to me," and the violence in his voice made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

I nodded, trying to digest this information. "Do you... want me to ECHO Brick? I don't know that he'll be available right away, but I can leave a message for them to come back as soon as they can."

"No. Not yet. I don't even... How do you tell someone that she's your daughter?" He picked up the spoon and started cutting up pieces of stew with it. "That the dad she thought she lost as a little girl and had to grow up without is still alive?" his voice cracked with emotion. "After everything she's been through..."

I reached my hand across the table and rested it on his arm. "It's not exactly like it was your fault," I said reassuringly. "You didn't light a beacon for Hyperion to come and kidnap your entire family." I paused, looking at the scars on his face and gently squeezed his arm. "You've been through a lot, too."

"Tina's not really big on common sense," he said quietly. That was certainly true.


	19. Chapter 19

_**Gaige**_

I knew, the second Lil walked back into HQ. She had THAT look, the, 'I've just spent the day screwing someone' look. And judging by the smile on her face when she saw me, I was going to hear about it. Lucky me.

She had a steaming mug of- cocoa?- in her hands and she sat down at the table with me. I'd just finished lunch, and she'd just finished... Yeah. Had she finally gone to the Preserve and put Mordy out of his misery?

"Have a good afternoon?" I asked innocently.

She hid her smile behind her cup as she took a sip. "Yeah. It was... productive."

I snorted. She shot me a look. "Seriously, Lil? Productive? That's the best you can come up with?"

She laughed. "I went out to Lynchwood..."

But Mordy wasn't in Lynchwood... My jaw about dropped off my face. I closed my mouth with a snap and stared at her without saying anything. Axton? Lil and... AXTON? That couldn't be right. Lots of people lived in Lynchwood.

Her yellow eyes peered at me over her mug for a minute. "You ok?"

"Yeeeeah. Great." I cleared my throat. "So what happened in Lynchwood?" I prompted. Why was I doing this? Why was Maya in Thousand Cuts? If she started talking about his tongue, I was SO out of there.

"I went there to tell Axton he needed to grow up."

I nodded in agreement. That was a thing that needed to happen.

"When I got there, he was outside with no shirt, working on his turret." She and I shared a smile. Yeah. The man was hot. "There were some girls there all giggling and swooning at him and he kept winking and flexing at them..."

I wrinkled my nose. That was not hot. "Ew."

"Yeah. I... yelled at him."

"Good!" She looked at me and I shrugged. "Someone needed to and he sure as hell wasn't listening to me."

"Then he asked if I was jealous and I told him what he could do with his turret and there was tension and then there was kissing and-"

"I got it," I cut her off, wrinkling my nose. "Sounds like you had a better time with him than I did!" I paused for a second, considering what I said. "Wow, THAT sounded bitchy. I mean, I'm glad you had a good time."

She laughed. "I did." She seemed to consider me for a minute. "Are you... ok with this?"

I nodded. "Yeah! I mean, I'm jealous that you're getting some because, seriously? TOO. LONG." That horrible night did NOT count. "But Axton? No. I tried that and it wasn't... Awesome." I hoped I sounded convincing. I was a little more than a tiny bit jealous. I'd thought that maybe he and I would have some big reconciliation or whatever with candlelight and probably pizza and given the whole thing another try. And... it probably would have failed spectacularly, I admitted to myself. Probably. I'd given the whole situation a lot of thought. He needed someone who would be able to deal with his ego and I, if I was going to be perfectly honest with myself, was NOT adequately equipped to do so. Lil probably was. So... Yay Lil. Still a little jealous. Besides, now... who was left for me? Scooter and crazy people. FML.

"I thought you and Mordecai were bumpin' pelvises."

"Nooo," I said quickly. "Why... Why would you think THAT?"

She looked at me for a moment, and I could see a flicker of disbelief. "You guys are pretty close. And... _obviously_ attracted to each other. If I hadn't thought that, I wouldn't have..." She trailed off for a moment, peering at me. "Are you sure there's nothin' going on?"

"I'm almost positive he thinks of me like a little sister. Like, WAY too young."

She settled back in her chair, watching me over her mug. "Killer, when you first got here, you were young. We weren't sure you were gonna make it, to be honest. But you did, you're still here. Pandora isn't exactly kid-friendly. I think being able to stay alive on this rock counts for more than some number."

I wasn't even... No. I wasn't going to start thinking about it and dwelling on it and... World of no. "So, what happens now? With Axton, I mean. Happily ever after?"

She took a drink of her cocoa. "Well, I've got shit to do here. He's got responsibilities there. I think we're firmly at, 'let's just see what happens.'"

I nodded. "That's a good place to be. WAY better than, 'miserable and lonely.'"

She nodded too and took another drink. "He's going to come here in a few days and help me plan an attack on the Moon Base."

"Then I am gonna go..." Where would I go? I remembered what Mordy had told me. "... back to the Preserve. He's gonna get here and you're gonna be all handsy on each other and I really don't want to see that." I wrinkled my nose. World of no.


	20. Chapter 20

_**Maya**_

I felt a large hand brush the bare skin at my hip. I'd been sitting at my desk and dozing, but I was entirely awake when his lips found the side of my neck.

Not opening my eyes, I smiled and reached my hand up and behind me to caress his shoulder through his scarred leather vest. "I've missed you," I murmured.

"Mmm," he growled against my skin, making me shiver in delight. "Tina went right home; it's just us tonight."

Tina. My eyes snapped open. "Brick, there's something I need to talk to you about."

"Can't it wait?" His other hand was already sliding over my stomach to find the release on my belt.

"Krieg is Tina's dad." It had been a couple of days since he'd shown up and he insisted on waiting for her at her new residence. I couldn't really stop him without hurting him, and I was unwilling to do that. Brick stilled, hand on my belt. He lifted his lips from where they'd been on the upper curve of my ear. "He's... here," I continued, "he's up at the Bunker, waiting for her."

He rested his forehead on my shoulder. "Ah, shit. I guess it can't wait." I heard him shift behind me as he stood straight up. He offered me one of his large hands. I took it and let him pull me to my feet, turning me to face him. "She might kill him."

I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my head against his chest. "That's what I told him. He said he knew, but he had to take the chance."

His arms closed around my back, holding me close against him. After a moment, he scooped me up in his arms and walked out of the enclosed room I'd had added to our home for privacy, to settle on his throne with me in his lap. I cuddled up against him. "So how was it?"

He entertained me for a while with his tales of punching and dismemberment and then fell into a contented silence. He loved to talk about the violence he did and I just loved listening to the rise and fall of his deep voice.

"I've been thinking about my own father," I said softly. "I never got to meet him- or my mother."

"The Brothers had you from birth?"

I nodded. "As soon as my parents realized the tattoos were, well, what they are." The swirling blue tattoos covered the entire left half of my body. I'd been born with them, apparently.

"Do you want to meet them?" he asked, tracing the tattoos on my arm and shoulder with one of his big fingers. He loved them.

I shook my head. "No," I said firmly. I'd given this a lot of thought over the past couple of days. "They didn't just give me away, they sold me. Money meant more to them than raising a daughter with a rare ability." I felt him kiss my blue hair. "I wonder how it's going up there?" I gestured in the general direction of Tina's Bunker. "We haven't heard any screams or explosions..." That didn't necessarily mean anything. Sometimes sound carried well, echoing again and again as it bounced off the towering rock faces. Sometimes it didn't, getting lost instead to the sprawling expanse of nothing beneath us.

"I think that's a good sign." He picked up the ECHO from his belt and dialed her up before handing it to me.

"Dis Tina."

"Hey Tina... What's going on?" I didn't ask if she'd tied Krieg to something and piled a mound of dynamite at his feet, but that was what I meant.

"There is some heeeeeavy buttcrap up in here."

"Are you ok?" I couldn't keep the concern out of my voice. I was worried for both of them.

"We cool, shorty. We cool."

I turned the ECHO off and handed it back to Brick, who took it and placed it on the floor. "Well, that's a relief."

"Now that that's dealt with... Where was I?" he asked, his voice deep and filled with promise.

I laughed, but the laugh ended in a soft moan as his lips found my ear again. "You're not wasting any time," I murmured to him, my eyes drifting shut.

"Girl, this is all I've been thinking about for the past couple days."


	21. Chapter 21

_**Gaige**_

Bloodwing settled on a Hyperion crate just a little way in front of me and I tossed a wave up to where I knew Mordy would be watching me from our... house wasn't the right word.

I heard his voice on my ECHO. "Find anything?"

I shook my head before picking it up to talk to him. I knew he could see me. He was probably looking through his rifle scope. "Not a thing." I was in the loading zone of the Preserve, looking for anything that would help us in tomorrow's raid on the Moon Base. Like, anything.

"Ammo, explosives... Anything?"

I shook my head again. "No. We picked it pretty clean for ammo and stuff when we came through here way back when. All I'm finding out here are barrels of slag and skag-food. Which smells HORRIBLE, by the way."

I heard his soft chuckle. "Wait there, I'm coming down."

I sat down on a crate to wait for him to pick his way down the cliff and come out to where I was. I watched Bloodwing. She peered at me, head cocked to one side, and then came and settled on my prosthetic. Her talons were WAY sharp, which was why Mordy wore the thick gloves and so many layers. But, my prosthetic arm didn't really have skin for her to hurt and all the circuitry was hidden under super strong metal.

"We're gonna go kill Hyperion tomorrow," I told her quietly. "It's WAY better than killing stalkers and skags."

She screeched at me and I had to laugh. I never knew exactly how much of what I said she understood.

Soon enough, Mordy was walking towards us. He stopped a couple feet away, staring down at us with his hands on his narrow hips. "I know you screw around in the labs- have you opened any crates or anything?"

I wrinkled my nose as I stood up. "A couple. It got super nasty and I had to stop. Severed limbs and stuff..." Ew.

He started walking toward the labs and I walked along beside him. Bloodwing left me and settled herself on his shoulder. "I've seen you giggle when you killed things so hard they exploded. How are a few body parts in a box any worse than that?"

"Context. When I'm killing things I get kinda lost to it. Plus they were all rotting..." I gagged, I couldn't help it.

He straight-up laughed at me. "Don't worry, if we see anything like that, you can hold my hand until the scary body parts go away."

I stuck my tongue out at him.

After a little bit he said, "You know there's a chance we might not come back from this. After Roland, I didn't want..."

I stopped walking and looked at him. We were just about to jump down from the bridge into what had been a skag den. I'd walked this path so often I could do it in my sleep. "Mordy," I said quietly, a tone of warning in my voice. If he did a whole big goodbye thing, I was going to cry. I was SO not up for crying.

He stopped as well, a couple steps ahead, and turned to look back at me. "I lost two of my best friends and I... Shit, Gaige." He'd noticed the single tear streaming silently down my face. In a second he was right in front of me, pulling me against his lean body, one hand settling between my shoulders and the other at the small of my back. I rested my hands on his chest and leaned against him. "I want you to take Bloodwing with you," he said into my hat.

I turned up my face to look at him. "Seriously?" I was almost desperate to see his eyes behind the goggles. I could see Bloodwing out of the corner of my eye while I looked into his face. She was watching me from his shoulder, head cocked like she knew we were talking about her. She probably did too, she didn't miss much.

"I'd feel better if she was there with you."

I shook my head. "No. NO, Mordy! She's not fully trained yet. And what happens if, well, fuck. What happens if something happens to her and you're not there?" It would destroy him. I couldn't watch that happen.

I got the impression that he was looking away from me even though he didn't move. Fucking goggles. "I just don't like the thought of you over there by yourself."

"Seriously? By myself?" I echoed, pushing on his chest a little. His arms didn't loosen at all. "There's gonna be, well, let's see. Two sirens, one of whom is the most powerful siren in, like, ever. The Slab-King, who punches holes in METAL with his bare hands. Some sort of robot-whatever-assassin who GOES INVISIBLE, MORDY. A-"

"I know," he said, cutting me off. "But not me."

I reached up and pushed the goggles up so I could see his eyes, and immediately wished I hadn't. His eyes were so full of feelings that I had to look away. I dropped my eyes to the red wrapping his torso. I opened my mouth to say something, and then closed it again, instead leaning my forehead against his chest.

"Just come back," he told me.


	22. Chapter 22

_**Maya**_

I was watching Lilith and Axton argue. Mordecai was sitting on my left, Gaige was sitting on his other side, her head against his shoulder, and we were all just there, silent and watching.

"Have you ever planned a military operation before?" the commando demanded, arms folded in front of his chest.

"Do I look military?" Lilith snapped back, hands on her hips. "Does Mordecai look military? Does friggin' Gaige look military to you? Who's been fighting Hyperion for longer, you or me?"

Gaige sighed heavily. "You're BOTH being stupid," she said.

All eyes went to her. I was a little startled that she'd spoken up like that. To be fair, they were both being incredibly stupid. What had started out as a simple disagreement on how to go through the Moon Base had degenerated into a sexually-charged argument about who was more right.

"What do you mean?" Mordecai prompted her.

"Obviously we're using their Fast-Travel codes. OBVIOUSLY. But it's been long enough since we snaked that guy and made him talk that they're probably not even worried about us anymore. So we go sneaky. Get Zer0 in there first all invisible and he can scout a bit and see exactly what we'll be looking at. Then he comes back and THEN we figure out how to do this."

I nodded. "But what if they still are expecting us?"

"If the rest of us are hanging out in Pierce Station and he just leaves his ECHO hot, then we're, like, four seconds away. We can set up a channel and just not transmit."

I liked her plan, and I nodded approvingly. She shrugged. "I get a lot of thinking time."

Lilith let out a long sigh. "I'll call Zer0, see when he's supposed to be here." She headed downstairs with her ECHO and Axton stormed out to the balcony in a cloud of anger. I caught Gaige's eyeroll as I looked over at Mordecai.

He shrugged. "Amigo has a big ego," he said quietly and I had to nod in agreement. "When's Brick comin'?"

"He and Krieg should be here this afternoon. Krieg wanted to do something with Tina before we hit the Moon Base and he wanted Brick there to... help." Run interference, more accurately. Krieg and Tina had actually started to bond a little, but it was really awkward for both of them. Neither of them knew how to be part of an actual family.

"Poor kid," Mordecai said, shaking his head. "I'm glad she has you guys."

"She's really trying."

"I keep telling him it's a good sign that she hasn't tossed dynamite at him yet," Gaige chimed in and I nodded seriously. She had a good point.

Lilith came back up the stairs. "Zer0 said- where's Axton?" I pointed out to the balcony with one gloved finger and she crossed the room and stuck her head out the door. "Can't you stop sulking for 15 minutes?" she demanded.

"Oh, just screw already!" Gaige snapped at them. "Seriously. Maybe you'll be able to concentrate on SOMETHING besides each other's pants."

Mordecai hid his smile behind his hand, but I could see his shoulders shaking with silent laughter.

Lilith came back into the room, followed by a very unhappy-looking Axton, both of them trying their level best to ignore the mechromancer. "Zer0 said he'll be here in just a few hours and we should be ready to go." She smirked. "All in badass haiku, of course."

Salvador burst into the building. Even without seeing that it was him coming in, it was easy to tell it was the Truxican. He had a very large presence. He rushed up the stairs in a whirl of noise. "Sorry, I am late."

"Late!" Lilith scoffed. "We're practically done. We're hitting the Moon Base as soon as Zer0 gets here."

"Si, that is awesome!" He looked the happiest I'd ever seen him outside of his killing frenzy. Happier, even.

Gaige started to grin. "Whaaaat's going on?" she asked.

"Senorita Moxxi es mi esposa!"

I looked at Mordecai and raised my eyebrow. His what?

Mordecai stood up and crossed to the other man, hand outstretched. "Felicitaciones, amigo!" Salvador took his hand and pumped it enthusiastically. I looked at Lilith, one eyebrow still raised in question, and she shrugged.

"MARRIED!" Gaige shrieked after a moment. "YOU GOT MARRIED!" She squealed and ran over to Salvador and almost knocked him over with her hug. _Oh_. He picked her up and spun her around.

"Si! Married!"

I had to smile. Salvador was almost exploding with happiness. I watched him spin Gaige around until she said she was going to be sick. Marriage seemed like a trap to me. Salvador didn't _act_ trapped... When Brick got there that afternoon, I was going to suggest we get a dog. He'd brought up the m-word and had seemed a little disappointed when I'd said it was pretty soon to be talking about it. A dog, though, that was a commitment.


	23. Chapter 23

_**Gaige**_

We were all crowded inside Pierce Station. Axton was closest to the Fast-Travel station, standing and holding his ECHO. His ECHO was hot, and we were listening to Zer0 steal his way through the Moon Base. It was almost spooky-quiet. Every so often we'd hear bits of other people's conversations, but Zer0 was able to keep himself hidden.

It was tense. I was perched up on DT's shoulder, holding my gun and jiggling my foot. I just couldn't sit still.

After what seemed like FOREVER, he reconstructed in front of us. "They don't expect us/and they do not fear attack/we need to strike now."

"I can't believe there was no one guarding the Fast-Travel," Axton stated, shutting off his ECHO. Zer0 did the same.

"The other stations/have high amounts of traffic/and those are guarded." According to the schematics Lil and Axton had grabbed from the Info Stockade, there were two other Fast-Travel stations that we DIDN'T have the codes for.

"Any idea what they're using those ones for?" Maya asked. She was sitting on a bench beside Sal, holding her favorite Maliwan SMG in her lap. She looked comforted by it being there. I understood that. It was the same reason I was tracing the pattern on my KerBlaster with my fingers.

"Opportunity."

"So if we destroy the Moon Base, Opportunity is cut off. We could go out there whenever, really, and finish 'em off," Lilith said. She was sitting on a crate and doing her level best to look casual. She wasn't really doing a very good job. She was too fidgety for casual.

"So... We goin'?" I asked eagerly. It had been entirely too long since I'd lost myself to my killing frenzy.

As Zer0 had been scouting out the bottom level of the Moon Base, Lilith and Axton had assigned us to teams of two. I was paired up with Brick. We were going up there first so I could hack the security cameras for Mordy. He was going to sit in front of the monitors in HQ and coordinate us or whatever, just as soon as I gave him eyes.

Brick was pacing at the far end of the room. He stopped and looked at me, a grin coming over his face. He was looking forward to this just as much as I was.

I hopped down from my perch and went over to the Fast-Travel. Axton grabbed my elbow. "Be careful, darlin'," he said quietly.

"I will," I mumbled and shook him off, shooting a look at Lil. I didn't miss her frown. Mordy stepped up beside me and held out his arms. I went to him and wrapped my arms around him and squeezed. I WASN'T crying, I told myself firmly. I was excited and my eyes were leaking a little and it had absolutely NOTHING to do with the fact that we were going to do something incredibly dangerous and there was a chance I'd never see him again. He'd become my family, he and Bloodwing.

"I'll take care of her," I heard Brick say over my head.

I stepped away and pulled my hat down on my head. I refused to wipe my eyes because I wasn't crying. I dialed the same code on the Fast-Travel station that Zer0 had used.

We digitally reconstructed in a large room. In addition to the Fast-Travel, there were a few differently-sized Hyperion-marked crates strewn about. Zer0 was right, this room hadn't been used in ages. We needed to get to a computer.

Zer0 had talked us through the first part of his scouting trip through the Moon Base. There was a closed door. I stayed to let Brick walk in front of me. He opened the door and peered out, first one side and then the other. He motioned for me to follow him and I did.

Zer0 hadn't seen ANYONE on the first few levels, but it was better to careful. Not being careful got people got hurt.

I followed him quietly out the door and down the hall to the left. I silently counted doors. One, two, three, and Brick stopped in front of the fourth one. This was the room with the computer bank in it. He eased the door open and after a look around, held it open for me. I slipped inside and he followed, letting the door shut quietly behind us.

He settled into position by the door and cracked his knuckles. The sound, loud in the still room, made me jump. "Sorry," he muttered and I had to grin.

I turned to the computer and cracked my own knuckles. I looked it over for a moment, then plugged the special ECHO I'd rigged up into it. It was almost too easy to route the security cameras to HQ back in Sanctuary. Most of them weren't even being used. That was carelessly lazy, but good for us.

I picked up my own ECHO and transmitted to the channel we'd set aside. "Can you see?" I asked Mordy softly.

"It's all there," he answered.

"I'm sending you control, should just be another minute." I tapped away at the computer, watching the ECHO carefully. "There. The longer you can wait to activate or move something, the better. The second you take over, they'll know something's up." I straightened. "We're good, Lil" I said. "We'll clear the floor and then I'll let you know." I shut the transmitting part of the ECHO off and clipped it to my belt. I fingered my shotgun nervously. It was time to fuck some shit up.

We were at the bottom of one of the sides of the H. With all the losses that Hyperion had suffered, they'd pulled their operations closer to the center of the H, or so Zer0 said. The idea was that we would clear the first floor and then make our way over to the other side of the H where Brick would smash the hell out of those Fast-Travel systems- the ones that apparently went to Opportunity. The three other groups would each clear another prong of the H and then we would meet in the middle section and destroy all of it.


	24. Chapter 24

_**Maya**_

I sat on the bench, trying my best to meditate into a sense of calm. It was working out rather poorly for me. Every movement made me twitch, sure that Gaige was ECHO'ing again to tell us to bring everyone over.

Zer0 leaned up against the wall, unmoving. He'd left Sanctuary quite a while ago, he'd felt too cooped up and there was nothing to challenge him. He'd come back at Lilith's request, more than ready to do more damage to Hyperion. He and I were going to be working together.

At last, Gaige's high voice came quietly over Lilith's ECHO. "All clear. We're on our way over to the other side."

"Adios, mi amada," I heard Sal say to Moxxi. Axton punched in the code for the Moon Base and within seconds we were all there.

I lifted my favorite SMG in front of me and followed Zer0 out the open door at the end of the room. We were going to clear out the remaining part of this section of the base. Zer0 had said it was mostly empty, which I think was the reason Lilith chose me to be over here. She was- they all were- fiercely determined that Hyperion wouldn't get their hands on me. I understood, even though it was a little frustrating.

We took the stairs to the floor above, leaving the elevator to those taking off for further destinations. There wasn't really anywhere for him to set up for sniping, so I knew he would be a few paces behind me. He walked as silently as he usually did and I just trusted that he was there instead of constantly looking over to see him.

We'd worked together like this before. I went first with my phaselock and he would dash out from behind me with his sword. It was almost comforting to be doing this again.

The hallways seemed endless. Long stretches of gray bordered by Hyperion yellow. Countless doors to open and poke my head into; abandoned rooms filled with dust and long-forgotten supplies.

The next three floors were empty. A painful knot of tension between my shoulders grew with every door we opened.

I heard yelling when we reached the next floor. They knew they were under attack and they were trying to find us all. Good. I gave a grim smile.

"They're over here! They're over-"

"Silence," I snapped, lifting one in my bubble of blue-purple energy, pulling the others toward him. I fired my SMG and Zer0 appeared among them, his glowing blue sword sliding easily through their soon-lifeless bodies. It was over quickly. The combat engineers weren't prepared to deal with such deadly foes. There would be more.

We fought our way through the next three floors. One more floor and we would be in the long cross-bar part of the base where their essential operations were. I picked up my ECHO. "We're here," I said to the channel we'd set aside to use for this operation.

"Get over to Brick and Gaige," Mordecai said, sounding alarmed. "They're swamped over there."

We ran through the base, Zer0 leading the way.

"We're surrounded!" Brick yelled over the ECHO. "They're comin' in from everywhere and I can't get close enough to the Fast-Travel to break it." I heard a blood-curdling scream in the background. "Gaige!" he yelled and then the channel went silent.

"NO!" Mordecai yelled. "Everyone get over there- now! Just hang on, querida!" I could hear Bloodwing's piercing cry in the background.

We met Krieg and Lilith by the elevator. Krieg was absolutely still, the only thing betraying his emotion was the murderous look in his eye, but Lilith had a wild look on her face. "I couldn't..." she started, out of breath. "I couldn't leave him alone. No eridium... You're here- I'm going down there," and she vanished.

"Dammit, Lilith!" Mordecai yelled over the ECHO, worried.

We took the elevator down to the bottom. There were bodies strewn around and there was a tangle of Hyperion engineers preventing Brick from getting to the two Fast-Travel stations, with more reconstructing. Gaige was lying on the floor on fire. Lilith was over there, kneeling by the fallen girl, and I could see the empty Anshin needles discarded on the floor between them. The mechromancer had to have taken a _lot_ of damage.

I phaselocked her, lifting her to her feet and healing her. Her thumb brushed her ECHO. "Up and RUNNING!" she yelled. She took a second to digistruct Deathtrap and then she was firing her KerBlaster into the throng of engineers and laughing.

I fired my SMG into the crowd surging from the Fast-Travel. Some fell, clearing a space. "Now, Lilith!" I yelled to her and she and Brick disappeared and reappeared in a flash of purple. Brick started pounding on the machines, decimating them with his fists as he let out a primal roar.

My wings rose up from my back, hazy orange and green, and I stepped forward calmly until I was surrounded by Hyperion. They screamed as my corrosive fire ate their skin. "This will hurt," I informed them, lifting one just in front of me into the air, drawing the others to him. They burned, they screamed, they fell.

I heard the elevator doors behind us open again and Axton's turret flew out and clung to the ceiling above me. It started firing, bullets and rockets rained down around me. Slag dripped all over the room from the turret and I. My skin hummed as I used my power to kill.

The Fast-Travel stations were destroyed. The engineers all fell in a mess of charred, broken, bloodied bodies. The parts of the floor not holding up the dead were carpeted by bullets and shells. The glow left my tattoos and I stumbled a bit, drained. Zer0 was beside me and caught me arm, holding me up. I shook my head. There was still more to do.

"Madre de dios," Mordecai breathed over the ECHO. "There's a handful left cowering in the control center. Tina's standing by with her explosives."

It didn't take much to kill the Hyperion officers huddled together in the control center. Lilith phased down to the Fast-Travel to escort Tina through the base. The rest of us walked- trudged- back down. There had been a few minor injuries, quickly healed by Anshin. I felt drained, like I could sleep for a week. Brick wrapped his strong arm around my waist, holding me up so I could concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. We still had to take care of Opportunity, but that was a problem for a different day. For now we were done.


	25. Chapter 25

_**Gaige**_

There was a party at Moxxi's, of course. Lil and Axton were late, and when they showed up he was slightly rumpled and she looked she'd dressed suuuuper carefully. They slipped in and sat at the bar near the side door, like they'd been there they whole time. We all knew better, it wasn't like they were fooling anyone. He kept his hand in the small of her back and she kept touching his knee, then moving her hand away when she realized what she was doing.

Brick and Maya immediately claimed an entire couch. And by Brick and Maya, I meant Brick did and Maya cuddled up on his lap with her arms around him. They were almost too cute for words. She looked really tired.

Krieg and Sal sat at the bar playing, "Did you see when I...?" and reliving their daring combat do's between shots of rakk ale. I'd been down when Krieg had joined us in the big fight, but he and Sal and Axton had stayed by the elevator, spraying the room with bullets. Now Moxxi hovered right there with them and Sal spent a good part of the night with his arm around her waist and his head on her tits. She did come with a pretty generous built-in pillow.

Tina had come back to Sanctuary with us after she'd blown the hell out of that thing. She'd hugged Krieg hard when we'd gotten back and it made me smile.

Ellie had arrived in Sanctuary while we were at the Moon Base and she and her mom had waited for us together. She gave the best hugs, and she pulled me into a big hug when we came in. She was sitting on another couch and bickering with Scooter.

I was quietly sitting on a table, taking it all in. I'd almost died. Like, forever died. I hadn't been able to register with the New-U/Fast-Travel station when Brick and I got pinned down and we were too far away from the other one for it to be able to pick me up. If Maya had gotten there any later I wouldn't be drinking my beer.

Brick knew, and he kept looking over at me like he was making sure I was still there. He'd tell Maya eventually, I was sure, and it would get around.

I'd almost died.

Which meant I hadn't died.

Which meant I was alive. My body screamed at me to go and find someone to be alive with. I looked around the room. My eyes lit on Scooter for a moment. That was... World of no. I wasn't that desperate. Krieg was over there too, he'd drifted over to stand behind Ellie, his hands on her shoulders.

I glanced at Lil and Axton and I felt a little pang of jealousy. That could have been me... No. It couldn't have. It would have ended the same way it did, except maybe a little more painfully. Axton and I were still friends, at least. I tried to get a hold on my hormones.

Mordy knew too, and he was sitting at a table by himself with Bloodwing, just watching me, face unreadable. He'd been strangely distant since we'd gotten back. He'd given me a quick, almost impersonal hug and then pretty much left me alone. It kinda hurt.

It was time to go home. I slid off the table and slipped outside. In just a short time, I was walking up the path to the home I shared with Mordecai.

I was just settling down on my bed for a think when heard him on the path, the soft crunch of the gravel beneath his boots. He murmured something to Bloodwing and she shrieked and I heard the sound of her wings beating the air as she took off. She was probably hungry.

I looked up to see him walking towards me, eyes hidden behind those damn goggles. He came over to where I was sitting, and then stooped down toward me. One hand slipped behind my waist and he straightened, drawing me up with him, pulling me against his lean body. Smooth as fuck. The other hand came up and gently knocked my hat backward off my head.

I'd known it was coming and the kiss still shocked me. His lips were soft, so soft; his beard slightly scratchy against my face. I curled my fingers in the front of his outer layer of red cloth. This wasn't actually happening, was it? I must have fallen asleep and I was dreaming.

He pulled away after just a second, peering down into my face. "I can't-" he stopped abruptly and yanked the goggles off his face. He tossed them behind me onto my bed. His dark eyes burned with intensity. "You almost- I saw you fall-" and then he was kissing me again almost frantically, his hands sliding under my shirt, gloves catching on my skin.

I leaned up into him, matching his heat. THIS. This was exactly how my body wanted me to celebrate the whole not dying thing. I ran the fingers of my right hand over his body, trying to find an opening in his clothes so I could touch him the same way he was touching me... Nothing. I pulled back, tugging on the shirt at his shoulders. "Off," I urged.

I saw the hint of a smile. The gloves and the layers covering his torso- too MANY- were discarded hastily on my bed.

He was so close. He didn't seem to have a bit of fat, his muscles lean but defined. I could feel my cheeks getting warm as I ran my finger down the center of his chest, over his hard, slightly concave stomach, and down into the waist of his pants.

"Hot," I breathed. "I mean, it's warm. I'm... warm." I couldn't stop staring. If I'd known he was hiding this under all that fabric, I wouldn't have wasted any time being lusty at Axton. I was wearing entirely too much clothing. I peeled off my sleeveless hoodie and shirt, then hesitated. I knew he'd spent some time cuddled up with Moxxi's ginormous tits and mine weren't even half as big. What if I was disappointing?

I didn't really have time to dwell on it. His hands were on my waist, guiding me backwards as I followed the lines of his abs with my eyes. The rock wall of the cave was suddenly rough against my back and he lifted me up to kiss him, holding me in place with his body. I reached my arms up around his neck, meeting his tongue with my own. Hot- my body felt like it was on fire. His hand was between us, long fingers moving dextrously, I didn't know what he was doing but I just didn't care.

He broke the kiss to set me on my feet and I felt his hands moving under my skirt. I understood what he wanted, I stepped out of my shoes and leggings when he pushed them down. His hands were on my waist again. "Wrap your legs around me," he instructed, lifting me up and I suddenly discovered his pants were gone as well. THAT'S what he'd been doing. I did as he told me, biting my lip to stifle my gasp as he pushed into me...

* * *

We were lying on the hard floor like a pair of spoons; he'd spread out my blanket to keep us off the dirt. I was resting my head on his arm and he was running his fingertips over my hip, my thigh. Bloodwing was back, settled on the perch Mordy had made some time ago for a larger bird.

"Next time will be better," he promised me quietly. "I was just- you're alive."

My belly got that twisty, hot feeling and I bent my head down to kiss his arm. "That was awesome. A little sore on my back..." I hadn't noticed WHILE he was screwing me up against the wall, but now I could feel my back was a little tender in a few spots.

"Sorry." I could hear the laugh in his voice.

"You're not!" I turned my head so he would see me stick my tongue out at him and he chuckled. I was alive. I had... a family, such as they were. I had a home. This was about as awesome as it got.

* * *

**A/N: This concludes this part of this particular story! WOOOOO! I have more that I'm processing in my head (Lilith? Opportunity? MOAR VAULTS?) and as soon as I get that all sorted, there will be more. (********Spoiler: Krieg and Ellie are having twins, y'all.) **Thanks for reading, I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it.


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